His wife is accusing him of harassing her sister and he said to her: If I touch your sister then our marriage is invalid. Then he touched her again with desire

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

You should realise
that what has happened of you touching your wife’s sister with desire is
something that is undoubtedly haraam. It comes under the heading of zina
(adultery) of the hand, of which the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him) spoke. Zina is not only zina of the private part;
rather there is also zina of the hand, which is haraam touching, and zina of
the eye, which is haraam looking, even though it is zina of the private part
that incurs the hadd punishment. After this, how can you claim that there is
no reason for suspicion and that your wife has no right to be suspicious
about you. What you are doing is very suspicious and is indicative of bad
intentions and a bad attitude.

It says in the
hadeeth narrated by Abu Hurayrah from the Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) that he said: “Allah has decreed for the son of Adam his
share of zina, which he will inevitably get. The zina of the eyes is looking
and the zina of the tongue is speaking. The heart wishes and hopes, and the
private part confirms that or denies it.”

Narrated by
al-Bukhaari, 5889; Muslim, 2657.

According to a
version narrated by Muslim: “The zina of the eyes is looking, the zina of
the ears is listening, the zina of the tongue is speaking, the zina of the
hands is touching, and the zina of the foot is walking. The heart longs and
wishes, and the private part confirms that or denies it.”

The Messenger of
Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) warned against touching a
non-mahram woman and said: “If one of you were to be stabbed in the head
with an iron needle, that would be better for him than touching a woman who
is not permissible for him.” Narrated by at-Tabaraani from the hadeeth of
Ma‘qil ibn Yasaar; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami‘,
no. 5045.

If this is a sin
and crime in the case of any woman, and means that you cannot be trusted,
then how about if it involves your wife’s sister, who is haraam to you so
long as her sister is your wife?

What you must do
is ask Allah, may He be exalted, to forgive you for this sin and repent to
Him; you must also resolve not to do that again and to block all ways that
may lead to fitnah or temptation with this woman. So do not be alone with
her, and do not be with her in any place or in any situation that could lead
you to go back to what you had been doing.

Moreover, there is
no need for you to speak to her, with or without desire; if there is any
reason for you to speak, her sister – namely your wife – can take care of
it.

Secondly:

With regard to
your saying to your wife, “If I touch your sister then our marriage is
invalid (‘nikah breaks’),” this is a metaphor for divorce. In the case of
metaphors, divorce does not take place unless there was the intention of
divorce, as we have explained in fatwa no.
120947

So long as you did
not intend divorce thereby – as you say in your question, trusting what you
said – then divorce has not taken place.

And Allah knows
best.